Bhubaneswar: RHI Magnesita, the leading global supplier of refractory products, Thursday started trial production of magnesia carbon bricks at its newly acquired plant at Tangi near Cuttack. The trials at the plant were formally started by Stefan Borgas, CEO of RHI Magnesita.
According to the officials Cuttack plant is the first unit of the global refractory maker in Odisha and also the first magnesia carbon bricks production unit of the company in India.
Borgas said, “The Cuttack plant should be seen in close connection with our overall manufacturing network in India. It will be operated in a network with our Visakhapatnam and Bhiwadi plants. This network will be supported by a new, state-of-the-art world-class R&D center that is currently under construction in Bhiwadi. For the next years we expect that our India business will continue to benefit above average from RHI Magnesita’s investments.”
He mentioned that the Cuttack plant was acquired by RHIM in August, 2019 from Manishri Refractories and Ceramics Pvt. Ltd. (Manishri). “The public listed Indian subsidiary of RHIM, Orient Refractories Ltd., entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Manishri to purchase the plant along with the land, machines and equipment at a value of Rs 45 crore. Commercial production at the plant is expected to start soon after completion of the trials,” Borgas added.
Parmod Sagar, CEO of Indian operations at RHIM said that produced magnesia carbon bricks for domestic and a few export markets. “The 18,000 MTPA capacity plant will help RHIM cater to Indian customers.” It was said that there are also plans to set up a recycling unit at the plant in the next phase of expansion.